Overeem out of UFC 160 but Mark Hunt “down” for stepping in

Once again a proposed fight between former champion Junior dos Santos and Alistair Overeem will not come to fruition as Overeem has been forced to withdraw from their bout.

The pair was scheduled to meet in the co-main event of this May’s UFC 160.

This bout would have been exactly a year since the pair was first scheduled to meet however last year’s bout between the two was cancelled when Overeem was handed a nine month suspension for elevated testosterone levels.

It is not yet sure whether a new opponent will be sought for dos Santos or whether he will wait for Overeem to be fit again but there is one man the fans want to see step in and fight, the Super Samoan Mark Hunt.

It appears that Hunt is more than willing to step in to the fight also.

“If I get the call for the fight, I’m there, of course,” Hunt told MMAFighting.com Wednesday night, “and the fans are crazy for it, so it’s good.”

“Sounds like a pretty good idea to me. I’m not injured. I’m always down for a battle.

“I was born down. You know this.”

Hunts has since taken to twitter to call for his followers to get on to UFC President Dana White to call for the matchup.

Hunt of course is fresh off his third round knockout win over Stefan Struve this past weekend which left Struve with a severely broken jaw. Given dos Santos’ and Hunt’s superb skills on the feet and iron chins, it would have the potential to go down as an instant classic.

UFC 160 takes place 25th May from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada and will be headlined by a heavyweight title fight between Cain Velasquez and Antonio Silva.

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